Chinese government's attitude towards Copyright enforcement

When it comes to Copyright law enforcement in China, the situation isn’t as stable as for example in the USA where Copyright laws are followed strictly. While the USA gives criminal charges over the infringement of Copyright, China rarely has court cases that are associated with the issue of Copyright. The main reason for this is the general attitude of Copyright in the Chinese society and in it’s culture. Copyright isn’t seen as a criminal act but rather something that is normal for them to do. They do not see anything wrong with sharing other people’s work, and on contrary see it as supporting the creator of the work. The more a work is shared, the more popular it is and the better it is for the artist, or so the Chinese people think.

Another issue of why the Copyright law isn’t as enforced is because of government corruption. If a political figure is bribed enough from third parties that profit from copyright infringement material, then he will overlook their activities in exchange for payment. This practice is common and oftentimes the people who infringe upon the Copyright don’t even approach the government official. Minor merchants who sell these stolen works don’t approach a high ranking official, but those who sell the works on a much larger scale could. An example of this would be Chinese websites such as Baidu from which the Chinese government gains profit from its revenue.

The government officials do not need to search far in order to find establishments that sell infringed works, and yet even though the merchants and shops are selling these Copyright infringement works on the streets, the authorities ignore them. This ignorance towards the breaking of Copyright laws is very interesting because if shows us the general attitude towards the issue the Chinese people as a whole have. In their culture, the theft of other works isn’t seen as something illegal. The market of fake goods has been integrated into their market throughout history that now they cannot go without it. If the market of false items were to decrease, then it would no doubt have an effect on the whole Chinese economy.

There are many companies in China that also operate on the basis of selling fake Copyright Infringed goods, such an example would be with car companies that copy the exact same models as that of other Western firms such as Bentley, Land Rover, and other vehicle designs. Not to mention the unlicensed Apple store that has no relation to the original Apple store in California. These cars as well as stores are outside in plain view for the government officials to see, and surely they are aware of them as well. However, they aren’t taking any action to bring these imitating companies to court or give out any fines as well.

In China, the Copyright law isn’t as enforced as it should be, giving it’s citizens free reign to infringe Copyright material on a large scale. As the capital of Fake goods, the enforcement of Copyright laws may harm the Chinese economy overall.

Impact of China’s low Copyright law enforcement on the rest of the world

China’s market may be thriving with the illegal sale of copyright infringement works, however, that is not to say that it doesn’t affect other countries as well. Many companies such as Nestle, Apple, Samsung, and Jaguar are more than interested in entering the Chinese market. However, they cannot do so due to all these counterfeit products that are floating around in the market. It wouldn’t be profitable for the companies despite knowing that if their products were not counterfeited and sold, then they would thrive in China. China’s market is growing and the Chinese economy is expanding to become larger than that of the USA, which has been the biggest economy in the world. As it is now, it is very possible that China will surpass the USA, or perhaps it already has.

It is needless to say that many companies are losing potential income due to the breaking of copyright and trademark laws in China. If they were to enter the Chinese economy, they would have high profits, however, not like this. Not only that, but the companies often times lose court cases against those that counterfeit their products, such as the case with the car manufacturer Fiat who sued a Chinese company for copying the design of one of their vehicles. However, in the end they had to pull back the court case because if they didn’t, then the image of their company would worsen among the Chinese population, resulting in low sales.

The USA trade with China

The USA, as well as other countries, are losing billions of dollars in revenue as well as thousands of jobs. According to an article on CNN, the United States Trade Representative claims tat “Chinese theft of American IP currently costs between 225 billion and 600 billion dollars annually" (source article). The USA is one of the countries that are affected on a larger scale, and while there are also other countries that suffer from this loss, it impacts the USA much more. In order to prevent this loss of revenue, the Trump administration and Donald Trump had slapped tariffs on 50 billion dollars worth of Chinese goods.

Hollywood is one of the biggest entertainment industries in the world, and because of their reputation and popularity globally, it isn’t surprising that they are illegally infringed upon many countries around the world. In China, the number of foreign films are the most popular films that are on the market, among the other Chinese movies and films. Western films are the most copyright infringed works

China’s market of fake and infringed goods is profiting the country on a large scale; however, it does result in lost revenue for many other countries around the world. It mainly affects the USA and it’s Hollywood sector of media business, most of Hollywood films being victims of Copyright infringement, if not all the films.

Copyright and Trademark Infringements in China

China is a country that is known for it’s fake goods. When in search of an items that is made to imitate the original and sold for a much lower price, then China would be a place you would think of right away. The items that are fakes and copied in China vary tremendously, from DVDs to books, to cars and fashion items, all the way to medications and food products as well. The nature of this business of fake goods has now become such a massive problem, that there are many health risks that are involved now. People are prone to purchasing fake rice that is made of plastic, as well as medications which are not the medicines they claim to be on the box they are in either.

Now when it comes to Copyright and Trademark, the areas that these two cover are intellectual works such as films, music and books, whereas trademark deals with protection of a company logo and it’s brand. Many infringement cases of both are found in China, and while the illegal sales of both DVDs and CDs is common, the new aspect that has been introduced into the market is the theft of company logos.

"Land Wind" a copy of Land Rover Evoque

 The example of this would be cars which have been made to be exact replicas of the original vehicles. For example, the buyer may buy a Chinese car named “Land Wind” but in essence, it is the same design as that of Land Rover. However, what the companies do no reveal is that they offer a service at their shops where they are able to exchange the logo of their company and place the Land Rover logo on the car instead. This method of business ensures that they are able to operate and if the officials don’t know about this option of adding the Land Rover logo, then they cannot place a criminal charge on the company. In fact, Jaguar has sued the Chinese company for making the exact replica of the Land Rover Evoque due to the close similarity between the two vehicles (Article on the Jaguar court case).

Fake Apple shop on the streets of China

Another example of Trademark infringement is that of Apple where many unlicensed Apple stores are located all around China. What is interesting in this case is that these are shops that are standing in broad daylight and are clearly visible to the authorities that may walk by. The shop is also unable to relocate so they are there permanently. However, even despite their inability to hide, they are still able to conduct business normally.

Copyright laws, Patents, Trademarks are all laws that are being infringed upon in China on a large scale and yet the government isn’t taking a strong enough of an action to catch those response for the infringement of these intellectual works. Often times the shops selling stolen intellectual property is right on the street and in plain view, yet no action is taken against this. Not to mention cars that look exactly the same as those of other well known companies such as Bentley or Land Rover.

Introduction of Internet - USA & China Copyright Infringement

Before the computers were as advanced, as they are today, the merchants of China used to sell their Copyright Infringed goods on the streets and markets out in the open. They took no precaution to hide from the public, and the authorities knew of their presence. The goods sold were DVDs, books, CDs, and many more kinds of goods. Many of the products sold also had company logos, sold along with the replica of the original product produced by that company as well. A Luis Vuitton bag would be a perfect example of this, where the merchants have not only infringed upon the design of the bag, but also the patent of the company logo as well.

Baidu is the Google of China.

Chinese man selling fake Copyrighted DVDs on the street.

Now with the advancement in technology, the market space has changed for those who wish to profit from copyright infringement works. In the twenty-first century, we don’t see as many merchants as we used to see back in the 80s or 90s. The Internet has made it possible for these individuals to hide, able to profit from the infringement works that they sell online. Baidu, which is the Chinese equivalent of Google, has links to many third party websites that offer these goods online. This means that for a Chinese citizen, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to find these goods online at all.

What is interesting to note is that the Chinese government gained revenue from Baidu’s profit, cashing in on the sales made online for the copyright infringed works. This means that not only does the government overlook these illegal activities, but they also support it’s sales in order to gain profit themselves. Even though the country as a whole has signed international agreements that tie it to the international copyright laws that are in compliance with the UN, they still overlook these laws in order to gain profit.

When compared wit the USA, it is incredibly easy to get ahold of fake goods in China. The USA has Amazon, Ebay, Etsy, and many other online shops that offer original goods, or goods made by those who had made an account on those websites. Law enforcement of copyright laws is very strict in the USA and so if a fake work is spotted, then it will be noticed by the website in question and they will take it off the website’s listings. Such are the rules of the terms of service on these websites. However, it is not to say that the authenticity of these products is difficult to prove, especially when an image is all that the buyer and the website have to verify the condition of the product. This would be more of a patent infringed law, whereas the sales of DVDs, CDs and books online are a copyright infringement.

The USA has a strict law enforcement of copyright laws on the internet, asking the companies to abide with the laws and holding the accountable for keeping stolen works away from their websites. However, when it comes to China, the Chinese government is not taking action, rather supporting the sales that profit them as well.